2025 NCAA Tourney Thread

[Uncle Rico]

With "sometimes" being the operative word, I agree. The team did not get to the level it did with a bad coach. The players pissed away the game with brain-dead decisions.

I'd take McCasland at Marquette, even though he's an evangelical

[MU82]

I don't know how much of that was really on McCasland. He was pissed at the Toppin three point attempt, an 85% FT shooter bricked the front end of a one and one, and he was telling team not to foul on what should have been a 10 second violation. I don't think the second missed three was "panicked" as much as it was a bad shot off a drive and kick. The shooter was wide open, but if the original ball handler who had gone to the rim had taken the shot he may have been fouled if he didn't make the shot. Sometimes no amount of coaching can overcome bad decisions made by the players.

I actually agree with all of this. I didn't mean to suggest that McCasland coached poorly while his team was choking. I just thought the TT situation kind of fit in with the Scheyer discussion.

Scheyer gets no credit from some because he has great players (never mind that he is the one who went out and got the great players). McCasland has great players, too, including a first-team All-American, and yet he could only do so much. He didn't like that idiotic 3 by Williams when TT was only down 1? Welcome to the club; coaches are paid millions for the buck stopping at them.

Still, any reasonable person understands that so much more than coaching goes into the kind of breakdown that TT had - or even the kind of 3-point shooting Marquette got from Kam and Jop this season.

[Zog from Margo]

Scheyer has done a very good job. He starts four NBA level players in Flagg, Knueppel, Maluach, and Proctor. There might be more on the roster. Coaching at a school other than one of the blue bloods, he wouldn't have a roster anywhere near as good and we wouldn't be talking about him. I do agree that this Duke team is well coached and has several high IQ players. Their team defense is better than any that I've seen at Duke in quite some time. They should be a heavy favorite to win it all. No other team combines that level of defense with that ability to shoot the ball from so many players.

[MU82]

Coaching at a school other than one of the blue bloods, he wouldn't have a roster anywhere near as good and we wouldn't be talking about him.

There's no way of knowing this. There are lots of coaches receiving tons of praise for the work they are doing coaching at non-bluebloods with rosters that aren't as good as Duke's. McCasland. May. McCollum. Golden. Beard. Pitino. And so on. Hell, nationally at least, Shaka has been the subject of a lot of positive talk.

So there is absolutely no way Scheyer could possibly win anywhere but Duke? And we know this with total certainty how?

I obviously can't prove that Scheyer would win anywhere but Duke ... but I'm not trying to prove it. We can only know what we know: He succeeded a legend, which as everybody knows is almost always difficult, and he quickly leveraged the Duke brand to build his own national title contender. His team, despite being one of the youngest in a nation filled with old teams, is disciplined, unselfish, hard-working, fun to watch and successful. That's all I can go by. We all sure as hell have seen coaches fail in similar situations (such as at Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina and Georgetown).

I totally get why folks are reluctant to heap praise on Scheyer. What I don't really get is why some (not you necessarily) actually are dumping on him.

[MuggsyB]

Who you got Houston or Tennessee?

[Uncle Rico]

Who you got Houston or Tennessee?

Not watching

[Pakuni]

Not watching

Too many transfers?

[Uncle Rico]

Too many transfers?

No.  It's rigged against the Big Ten

[tower912]

Gotta watch the Min Woo Lee parade.

[MuggsyB]

Gotta watch the Min Woo Lee parade.

Minjee and Min Woo can swing it. 

[Jockey]

Tennessee has the same low post game as Marquette.

[MuggsyB]

6pts in 10.5 mins is problematic for Tennessee.

[Uncle Rico]

6pts in 10.5 mins is problematic for Tennessee.

Proves the SEC was overrated

[The Sultan]

Hot Take: Steve Lappas has gotten better at this.

[Pakuni]

No.  It's rigged against the Big Ten

In that case, I stand with the refs.

[The Sultan]

I know this may be unfair, but this game feels like the typical Rick Barnes experience.

[MuggsyB]

Rick Barnes doesn't look particularly happy. 

[MuggsyB]

Houston plays at a snails pace.  I love how they blow up screens and defend in general. 

[K1 Lover]

Tennessee's on track to outdo our 4-31 shooting performance from deep last year.

Currently 0-13.

[MuggsyB]

I know this may be unfair, but this game feels like the typical Rick Barnes experience.

I get it but he's not missing shots by 20 feet.  Lanier has been a dumpster 🔥. 

[DoctorV]

Chaz picking a bad day to have his worst game of the season.

Still a half to go

[tower912]

Have a nightmare day shooting, lose.  Nothing new here.  It isn't personal.

[forgetful]

Houston being called for a lot of non-existent fouls given that the foul discrepancy is currently 14-4.

[Uncle Rico]

The great what-if.  Kelvin Sampson puts the phone away and doesn't lose the IU gig:

[The Sultan]

The great what-if.  Kelvin Sampson puts the phone away and doesn't lose the IU gig:

Yep. A silly rule that was rescinded soon after.